Randy Scheid grew up in San Lorenzo, CA and graduated from Arroyo High in 1965. He joined the Navy immediately after graduation with two friends. After boot camp, Randy was temporarily assigned to the ET Shop at the Naval Air Facility at China Lake, CA while waiting for Basic Electricity and Electronics (BE & E) and Electronics Technician (ET) “A” schools. The shop’s primary mission was to maintain the Tower communications and tape recorders. The base is located in Ridgecrest, CA smack in the middle of the Mojave Desert.  

The base also contained the Naval Ordinance Testing Station (NOTS) where they tested new munitions for the air wings, along with the A-7 fighter, remotely controlled aircraft, and longer burning flares that “light up the night”. On non-duty days when the range was open for access, Randy would check out a 22 cal rifle from the base armory and borrow the shop’s jeep. “You’d be surprised just how many jack rabbits were out there considering all of the destruction caused by the spent munitions.” “You had to be careful” Randy continues, “because there were also unexploded munitions. The rabbits were lanky and fast and really tested your rifleman skills.” 

After graduation from ET school at Treasure Island, CA he was assigned to the minesweeper USS Observer MSO-461 in Charleston, SC. He later served aboard the USS Notable MSO-460, also home ported in Charleston. After numerous operations in the Caribbean, Randy said he needed a change of scenery and volunteered for Viet Nam, partly out of a sense of duty and because a number of his high school friends were serving there. According to Randy, the frequent fires aboard the minesweepers were also an encouragement to get off. In April 1968 he got his wish. 

Randy was transferred to the non-rotated USS Jamestown AGTR-3 (a crypto spy ship) off the coast of Viet Nam. After he arrived in Saigon he was taken to the transit barracks at the Military Assistance Command–Vietnam (MACV). That first night, the Viet Cong welcomed him “in country” by shooting two rockets into the area. “The worst part of the attack was when one rocket hit the latrine a couple of barracks over” he said, “and you couldn’t imagine the stench, there was shit all over the place”. After a few days, the Army “thought” the ship might be off An Thoi, Phu Quoc Island so Randy flew there via a C-130.

 Upon arrival, Randy went directly to the PBR base, the only command on the island other than a POW camp. The base commander said he hadn’t seen the Jamestown in a couple of months and he didn’t know when it would show up, it just did. In the mean time the CO would assign Randy some “special duty” if he elected to stay around for awhile and see if the Jamestown shows up or he could just hang out for a few days and catch another C-130 to go back to Saigon. “Sir, I’ll stick around and give the ship a chance to show” as Randy recalls telling the CO. 

Randy was escorted to the barracks for a bunk and to drop off his sea bag and orders, and on to supply for two sets of “greenies”, the common Navy term for fatigues. The “special duty” turned out to be an “interim” replacement crew member on a PBR. “Boats show Petty Officer Scheid the ropes. Now that you have a full crew you’ll go on patrol tonight” “Yes Sir” said the First Class boat captain. Smiling and looking at Randy, “Bob, show him how to man the aft 50 and M-60, we’ll be leaving in a couple of hours, welcome aboard” he said as he was getting off the boat to get his orders for that nights patrol. 

“That’s Navy on-the-job training for you” says Randy, “training under fire, as it turned out.”  About four weeks later coming back from a patrol one morning, with two wounded crew and on his third shot up boat, and with no Jamestown on the horizon or near the island he was thinking “I need to get to my ship, they need me. I’m only in-transit here. I’m not supposed to be doing this crap” when he spotted a C-130 on approach. “If they’re unloading NVA I’ll never have a chance, but if it’s supplies, I might just make it” he thought. As his boat got closer he could see they were unloading supplies, and he made the flight back to Tan San Nute Air Base. 

Randy spent the next week at the Navy transit barracks on Plantation Road, across from the grave yard where there was fierce fighting during the Tet Offensive earlier that year. His duty station, ironically, was as the 30 cal machine gunner. One day he was able to visit his Air Force buddy, Tim Fisher, stationed at Tan San Nute and over a couple of beers they discussed their experiences “in country.” Hurriedly one day the Navy put him on an old Douglas C47, flown by a very old CPO, to Vung Tau, a former French resort town in the province of Dong Nai on the coast. Anchored off the beach was the refitted former WWII AG, the USS Jamestown AGTR-3. 

Randy spent his year aboard doing his ET job and the following May disembarked once again in Vung Tau and was flown to Saigon where he once again was billeted at MACV.  And true to form, the VC welcomed him once again with rocket fire. “It was sort of like” Randy says “a we missed you, welcome back kind of thing.” A few days latter he caught a flight to Travis AFB, and was subsequently discharged at Treasure Island, CA, a short thirty minute drive to home. Enlistment completed. 

Discussing his Navy experience, Randy says “I earned seven ribbons, more than most career sailors at that time, and where else would I have had the opportunity to serve as a radar man, boatswain, gunners mate, and electronics technician?  And all of this was accomplished in the short span of three years, nine months and twenty-eight days.” Randy continues, “but most of all, my fondest memories were serving aboard minesweepers, that’s why I got involved with the Lucid MSO-458 Foundation. I think Mike Warren, our Executive Director, said it best, it’s because that’s where we grew up.” 

After his enlistment Randy went to college, in part by using his GI Bill and working full time. During the early years of college, he said his initial roommate was a high school friend who was also a sailor (an ET too) who he went to boot camp with on the buddy system. Randy has a BS in Business and a Masters in Public Administration. He became a CPA in 1975 while working for Ernst & Young, one of the worlds leading international public accounting firms. 

For over thirty years Randy served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for companies and on boards in various industries, both public and private. He has also served in senior positions in local government, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, and non-profits including their boards of directors. Randy has also owned and operated two successful businesses, a CPA practice and a general construction company. In response to publicly traded companies issuing fraudulent financial statements, he advised publicly traded organizations in complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The act mandates requirements by the federal government in establishing and documenting internal accounting and management controls to minimize the opportunity for publicly traded companies to commit financial statement fraud. Randy has also taught accounting and business math at a local community college, as a part-time evening instructor, and has a life-time community college teaching credential. 

When inquired about his varied background, Randy said “I attribute my expertise to initially working in public accounting on the audit staff. It gave me an opportunity to work on diverse clients in an assortment of industries. And when your job is to solve organizational accounting and financial problems, it doesn’t matter which particular industry the organization is in so long as you understand the facts at hand. Once you have the facts, you can solve the problem.” 

Being civic minded, Randy is a member of the Oakland, CA Kiwanis club and has served Kiwanis International as a past Lieutenant Governor. He is also a Scouter with over twenty eight years tenure. As a Scouter, and former Scoutmaster, he currently serves on the Advancement Committee in his local district. Randy, an NRA Life Member and certified rifle and shotgun instructor, is also proud to have taught over 400 boy’s firearms safety and marksmanship through Scouting’s shooting merit badge and camping programs. He also actively teaches Citizenship in the Nation and Citizenship in the World merit badges. 

Randy and Kathy (Kat) have two daughters, a grand daughter, and a grand (son?) on the way. Heidi, their miniature schnauzer, is the furred member of the family who also loves the ship. Heidi has sniffed every nook and cranny, fore and aft, and port to starboard. According to her, the Lucid has passed inspection. Randy’s hobbies and interests include camping, hunting, gardening, and reading non-fiction books. “We don’t tent camp nowadays nor can I go backpacking with the scouts any longer due to medical reasons. But at any given time you may see us going down the road, 5^th wheel in tow, or headed out on a weekend trip on our motorcycle. You should see the expression on peoples faces when the bike comes to a stop and Heidi sticks her head out of the top of her pet carrier” says Randy. He continues, “When I ask Heidi if she wants to go to Starbucks for coffee she heads to the front door. When I open it, she runs over to the motorcycle and sits waiting for me, instead of waiting by the car. Can you believe it? She would rather ride on the bike than in the car. That’s daddy’s little girl. Life is great!”